HFBK

The programme will focus on three moments of rupture:

Waiting for the barbarians (4min 26, 2013)
In Constantine Cavafy’s poem Waiting for the Barbarians, the impending disaster, the arrival of the barbarians, is the only hope that a society, stumped in despair and helplessness can envision. A common enemy to unite against. And so, they wait…

Sarcophagus of Drunken loves (7min 44, 2023)
Power cuts have become the new normal in Lebanon. In August 2022, they reached a peak with the entire city plunged into total darkness for hours and museums were no exception. Yet, the National Museum chose to remain open. Undaunted, visitors still came, eager to see. Armed with their phones, they come to visit traces of past civilisations as their world crumbles. But in the darkness, shadows appear and things organise themselves differently, strangely…

Je veux voir/ I want to see with Catherine Deneuve and Rabih Mroué (1h10min, 2008)
July 2006.⁠ ⁠A war breaks out between Israel and Lebanon. A war that crushes the hopes of peace and the momentum of a whole generation. We no longer know what to write, what stories to recount, what images to show. We ask ourselves: what can cinema do? That question, we decide to translate it into reality. We invite to Beirut an icon, an actress who, to us, symbolises a certain cinema, Catherine Deneuve. She will meet our close friend, the artist and performer Rabih Mroué. Together, they will drive through the regions devastated by the conflict. It is the beginning of an unpredictable, unexpected adventure.